page_title: Typhoon Songda (2004)
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: Typhoon Songda (2004) / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: Saffir-Simpson Hurricane ScaleTDTS12345 English: Typhoon Songda (2004) track. Uses the color scheme from the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
context_page_description: Typhoon Songda, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Nina, was the fourth-costliest typhoon on record. The 18th named storm of the 2004 Pacific typhoon season, Songda developed on August 26 near the Marshall Islands. Following a path that Typhoon Chaba took nine days prior, Songda moved west-northwestward and strengthened quickly amid favorable conditions.
context_section_description: Forming in a similar region as Typhoon Chaba did nine days earlier, Typhoon Songda originated on August 26 from an area of convection, or thunderstorms, east-northeast of Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. At 06:00 UTC that day, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) assessed that a tropical depression developed. The convection steadily organized and consolidated into rainbands around a well-developed circulation, aided by low wind shear. At 11:30 UTC on August 28, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center issued a tropical cyclone formation alert, and just 30 minutes later upgraded the system to Tropical Depression 22W.
  Favorable conditions allowed the nascent system to quickly intensify. At 00:00 UTC on August 28, the JMA upgraded the depression to a tropical storm, naming it Songda. Moving west-northwestward around the subtropical ridge to the north, the storm passed north of the Marshall Islands. An eye began becoming visible on satellite imagery on August 29, prompting the JTWC to upgrade Songda to typhoon status at 12:00 UTC that day. A day later, the JMA also upgraded the storm to typhoon status, and the agency estimated an initial peak intensity on August 31 of 165 km/h (105 mph). That day, the JTWC also estimated peak 1 minute winds of 230 km/h (145 mph), equivalent to a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Operationally, the JTWC estimated slightly higher winds and assessed Songda as a "super typhoon", but it was revised downward.
  The typhoon increased in size as it approached the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI), which was struck by Typhoon Chaba a week prior. On August 31, Songda turned more to the northwest, which spared the more populated islands of Saipan and Tinian. On September 1, the storm passed about 32 km (20 mi) northeast of Agrihan with 1 minute winds estimated at 233 km/h (145 mph). Subsequently, the typhoon turned more to the west-northwest and weakened slightly. However, an increase in northward outflow caused the convection to deepen, resulting in Songda re-intensifying. On September 4, the JTWC again estimated peak 1 minute winds of 230 km/h (145 mph), and the JMA assessed a peak 10 minute wind peak of 175 km/h (110 mph). Around that time, Songda had turned to the northwest and had developed a symmetric eyewall. At 08:00 UTC on September 5, the typhoon made landfall on the Japanese island of Okinawa while at peak intensity.
  A break in the ridge steered Songda northward after the storm struck Okinawa. The storm gradually weakened, partly due to drier air, and accelerated northeastward on September 6 toward western Japan. At 00:00 UTC on September 7, Songda made landfall on Nagasaki in western Kyushu with 10 minute winds of 140 km/h (85 mph). Influenced by an approaching shortwave trough, the storm raced into the Sea of Japan and weakened to tropical storm status. Late on September 7, the JTWC issued their last advisory on Songda, noting that the storm was becoming extratropical. The JMA declared Songda as fully extratropical at 00:00 UTC the next day while the storm was just west of Hokkaido; at that time, the storm merged with a nearby non-tropical low and a cold front. After a brief turn to the north, the storm moved northeastward over northern Hokkaido and southern Sakhalin and entered the Sea of Okhotsk. On September 9, the remnants of Songda moved across the southern Kamchatka Peninsula before moving into the Bering Sea. Late on September 10, the JMA stopped tracking the storm after Songda crossed the 180th meridian. The storm continued eastward, entering the Gulf of Alaska on September 11. Two days later, the system moved inland after weakening further.
caption: Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
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